23 October Carpooling to get to work is gradually finding its place
Helped by the SNCF strike and subsidies, carpooling is gaining a place among mobility solutions.
« From the beginning to the end of the strikes, we multiplied our activity by 6“, tells AFP Tristan Croiset, co-founder of the application Karos.
« We had a small drop in July and a more marked drop in August. However, we returned to levels similar to what we had in June during the strike.“, He rejoices.
The rise of the collaborative economy has encouraged the emergence of services in recent years. Thus we put in relation those who have a car who wish to recover their expenses, and those who have to move.
Home-to-work journeys as an objective
While BlaBlaCar has established itself in long-distance carpooling, several applications are competing for the emerging market for short journeys: in particular Karos and Klaxit (ex-Wayzup), which approached companies as a priority, iDVroom (a subsidiary of SNCF) and BlaBlaLines (a recent creation of BlaBlaCar).
They are mainly aimed at home-work journeys, and wish to complete the public transport network in less dense areas.
« In short-distance carpooling, we are clearly witnessing a change in behavior. This practice, still nascent, should continue to be democratized“, estimates Nicolas Brusson, the general manager of BlaBlaCar.
3,5 trips on average per week
“The activity on BlaBlaLines intensified up to a factor of 10 during the strikes (of the railway workers in the spring). Between 20% and 30% of users who made their first carpool during this period are still using the app after two months,” he adds. "Our members make an average of 3,5 journeys per week", underlines Nicolas Brusson, who wants to further integrate BlaBlaLines into BlaBlaCar "to accelerate its adoption".
While most applications have been integrated with Vianavigo. Klaxit will be at the end of the year on that of the RATP. This will make it possible to move to “an industrial scale”, notes its president and founder Julien Honnart. And iDVroom benefits from the support of its powerful parent company, the SNCF.
Up to 25.000 regular carpoolers
Beyond this exposure, the different formulas seek to reassure users. In particular by setting up formulas guaranteeing the return in case the driver fails. On the other hand, it is better that the passenger is not detained at work.
The small world of carpooling lacks precise figures. According to Ile-de-France Mobilités (ex-Stif), which subsidizes these services, there are in the capital region – by far the main market – nearly 25.000 regular carpoolers, and there were up to 75.000 during the strikes. railwaymen. Very little, then.
“Volumes are still low,” readily acknowledges Julien Honnart at Klaxit. "Home-to-work carpooling cannot take off if we don't lower the price for the passenger," he points out.
Fighting cars with only one passenger
And if the 10 cents per kilometer and passenger that the driver receives is enough to encourage him to take people on board, the 10 cents per kilometer that the passenger pays in the absence of public subsidies remains a deterrent, according to him.
Hence a call, in particular, for Ile-de-France Mobilités to continue to support carpooling applications, as it has been doing for a year. For local authorities, short carpooling makes it possible to fight against "autosolism", the vast majority of cars carrying only one person. By reducing the number, we would pollute less, and we would make the roads more fluid.
At the Ministry of Transport, it is indicated that the future Mobility Orientation Law (LOM) will give local authorities “tools”. This is in order to promote carpooling, such as the development of lanes reserved for vehicles carrying several people. In addition, companies will be able to donate up to 400 euros per year to their carpooling employees, as for cycling.
These measures will no doubt interest those who have not waited for the platforms. A study – which certainly dates back to 2015 – shows that 98% of home-work carpoolers in Ile-de-France organize themselves without them.
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